Day 5: Nájera to Tosantos

30.6 miles, 2,700 ft vert, 6:15 moving time

Mind

I woke up this morning feeling great. No foot tendon issues! I helped someone with a blister put on moleskin in the morning. After the help I received with my tendon, it felt great to give back.

In the first hour of running, I ran into the Italian (Roberto) that recommended the antiinflamitory cream. It was great to be able to thank him and chat with him for a while. His traveling companion talked about how he took the bus back to get her credential (you get it stamped along the way). She called him her angel. I joked with him that he was my angel too. I also stopped and chatted with Amanda, an ultrarunner from Bakersfield that I met yesterday. She was excited to here about the Radio Salil cream.

I cruised into Santo Domingo and explored the beautiful basilica. It had a museum attached to it that randomly had a section of puzzles of very old maps and paintings. Gerry is with me!

I crossed the boarder from La Rioja into the Castilla y León region. I stopped at the Jesus Bakery in Grañon for some amazing whole grain bread (the bread in Spain is good, but it’s usually just white bread).

In Viloria de la Rioja, I stopped at a bench under tree in front of the church for a break and some lunch after 21 miles. I met Ann from Belgium and others as we all took a little rest. A truck pulled up to the small square and honked. A couple locals came it of this town of ~100. Turns out it was a traveling butcher! Pretty awesome. I enjoyed the cool rain for the last 5-6km.

I just had my first dinner and will have my second dinner at the Parish Albergue soon. Body

My foot tendon miraculously felt better in the morning. Just amazing! I felt good, comfortable, and kept a maintainable pace all day. Today just felt like a natural pace for me. I was ready to stop running at end, but overall good. I rolled out my right calf at 20 miles. Maybe my calf was tight and causing some imbalance in my tendon? Did what I do fix it? Your prayers? God?

This is fun! I mentioned that I had a blister on my right pinky toe. Well, it turned into a full toe blister up to my toenail. Impressive! I finally drained it (with the help of a nice Belgium woman who gave me a lance and helped). I put some antibiotic on it and hopefully it will dry out overnight. It’s not really painful, but I needed to deal with it. (Sooty, I forgot to take a picture.)

Spirit

Sorry I had to subject you to all my whining yesterday. Wow, I get philosophical quickly when I’m hungry, tired, and in pain. My journey involves doing a better job accepting what is happening, NOT what I wrote last night.

This morning, and a couple other mornings, I had this profound sense of joy for the first 1-2 hours. I couldn’t stop smiling. I don’t fully understand, but I’m embracing it.

I’m staying at the Parish St. Francisco de Asís pilgrim hostel tonight. Yes, it’s the same name as the mission I started from in San Francisco. We sleep on mats on the floor. The building looks 200-300 years old. I’m happy to be here. And I need to go to help prepare dinner!

…

The communal dinner was great. Garlic/bread soup, a pasta salad, and fruit. We had an evening prayer in Spanish, Slovakian, English, French, and Japanese. I met some great people, including Heather who made cranes for us (more on this later). Slept on mats on the floor in more traditional pilgrim style. First night I was cold.